A Case Report of an Elderly Patient with Respiratory Failure Caused by Moraxella osloensis Infection

Introduction: Moraxella osloensis is a bacterium that is part of the normal flora of the human respiratory tract and a rare causative organism of infections in humans. Most cases of M. osloensis have been reported in immune compromised adults with cancer and infants. Case presentation: We report here a case of an elderly patient infected with M. osloensis. The patient is a 94 year old Vietnamese man who was receiving long-term enteral nutrition through a catheter while in his home and had a recent history of recurrent reactive upper airway disease. In 2014, he was admitted to hospital with fever, cough, irregular heavy breathing and severe bronchitis. His blood culture showed Gram-negative cocco-bacilli that were β-lactamase-positive, ampicillin resistant and cephalosporin’s 2,3,4-sensitive. From this bacilli culture, M. osloensis was identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Conclusion: The patient was successfully treated with a one-week course combination of Vancomycin and Ciprofloxacin. The MIC-V a results 2 µ/ml established M osloensis sensitivity for both antibiotics. To our best knowledge this is the first report of M. osloensis identified in a patient with respiratory failure in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam.